Still A Kid
by crimson-obsidian-rose
Summary: Everyone knows that Yuffie is a ninja, but no one knows what that means, exactly. After all, a ninja is supposed to be sneaky, quiet, patient, and a bunch of other things Yuffie could never be. Right? Yuffie character study Yuffie/Sora friendship


A/N: Hello peoples, my name is crimson-obsidian-rose, and this is my first ever Kingdom Hearts fan fiction. This started off a character study for Yuffie which takes place in the first game, although now that I've re-read it, I've noticed it unintentionally ends like a Yura (YuffiexSora). The hints are subtle though, and it can be seen more as a friendship than a romance. I hope you all enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, the lucky people of Square Enix and Disney do. 

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Still A Kid

Everyone knows that Yuffie is a ninja. After all, how could they not, what with her proudly and boldly exclaiming it as a way of introduction; _'I'm the Great Ninja Yuffie!' _But no one knows what that means, exactly. They all think it's her aspiration or maybe a title she's given herself because she knows how to throw a shuriken around. After all, a ninja is supposed to be sneaky, quiet, patient, and a bunch of other things Yuffie could never be. Right?

None of the others know just how intensive her training really was. They don't know that she has the ability to go for several days without speaking, and that she has actually done it for a week before. They don't know that she is a master at sneaking, and that she has actually snuck into all of their rooms when they first arrived so that she'd have something to hold against them if she ever needed blackmail (or in case a very boring day came around, whichever happened first). And none of them has the faintest idea that Yuffie, their optimistic and crazy little ninja, is at master at the art of murder; that she knows more that 30 different ways to kill a person, 5 of which she can do with nothing but a nail file. She also knows where all the weak spots and pressure points are in a body, meaning she can handicap, temporarily or permanently paralyze or even knock out a person without batting an eyelash. With all these skills under her belt, along with her agility and flexibility, one would think that she'd been the best fighter of them all, or at the very least much stronger than she is now.

But the truth is, Yuffie knows that here, at least for now, she can't be any of those things. Here in Traverse Town, she's the sunlight of the group, it's spark, and excitement. The others depend on it, without even realizing it they need her to be that younger, weaker, happier person that keeps them smiling (or annoyed, either's fine with her). After all, she's a lot younger than the rest of them are; they didn't know her too well back on Hallow Bastion (actually, they only knew her at all because they'd all babysat for her once or twice, but you can't exactly violently attack your babysitter, can you?), and once they'd arrived in Traverse Town all they knew about her was the hyper active 6 year old who only wanted to mess around and have fun, and so that's who she had to become for them. Not that she minds, of course, because annoying Squall (who wants to be called Leon Leonhart, can you believe that?) will never get old, and messing with Cid until he starts to curse in such a loud voice that Aerith scolds him is more entertaining then television, and, well, it reminds her that she's still a kid, which maybe isn't such a bad thing.

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That's probably part of the reason why she enjoys Sora's visits so much, because as much fun as goofing off and driving the others crazy is, having another kid around is a lot more interesting. After all, how many of the others would be willing to place a stink bomb in the Moogles's workshop with her, and how many of them will talk in pirate voices with her all day? Having Sora around is a blast, because that's when she reminds him he's a kid, and he does the same for her.

But, when night falls, and her super sharpened sense of hearing works best, she tends to curse these ninja abilities of hers, especially when she can hear Sora fighting the darkness and losing in his nightmares from the next room over. But it's not only Sora, everyone else has those dreams too, Squall and Aerith and Cid, and even Cloud, whenever he's around. It's just that Sora's are the worst, because the others are older and were trained for this, whereas Sora was just an innocent, simple kid suddenly plucked out of his comfort zone, handed a powerful weapon, and told to fight. A kid who was forced to grow up too fast.

So, the day after Yuffie hears Sora's struggles, she corners him outside in the second district.

"Hey Sora, wanna see a neat trick?" She calls, and once she has his attention she turns an does a triple backflip, the way she learned to when she was just a kid learning to be a ninja.

"Cool, could you show me how to do that?!" Sora's as excited as ever, of course, and Yuffie grins.

"Hmm, I dunno, it might be kinda hard with those giant yellow shoes of yours." She jokes, and he pretends to be offended, she can tell because he smiles after he tells her off, and she agrees to teach him a move or two. They'll spend the next few hours practicing, and it isn't until someone comes to look for them because it's late and dark (isn't Traverse Town always dark?) or until Sora is so sore he has to take a break or until a mob of Heartless attack and two fight them off before heading back to the Hotel for a much deserved treat that they stop. Either way, Yuffie's just glad she can remind him how to be kid again, because, well, too many people have forgotten already, and for those others it's too late.

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